Low-Commitment Canvassing

Basically, it allows people to log onto www.callforchange.org from their home computers and then phone target voters in the 30 top House and Senate races around the nation. Our goal is to make 5 million phone calls to inconsistent voters who lean Democratic – we recently passed 1.5 million.

Our members chipped in millions to allow MoveOn to buy the most up-to-date lists, acquire consumer data, and use micro-targeting to ensure that every call is maximized. We used the Busby and Lamont campaigns to test our program and make it a good user experience. After Busby, a Yale study compared our phone program to others and found that it boosted turnout the most.

Part of the reason we designed the program the way we did was to make it work for parents and others who’ve want to chip in but only have 20 or 30 minutes free to volunteer at the end of a long work day – not just the super-activists. Also, folks in areas without competitive races or who live in rural areas far from campaign offices no longer have to be excluded from GOTV.